EMS Students to Perform at Carnegie Hall

The setup of a famous joke sees a visitor to New York City exit a cab in midtown Manhattan and ask a musician walking by how to get to Carnegie Hall. Without missing a beat, the musician replies “Practice, practice, practice!”

Ten Eastchester Middle School chorus students will prove that there is more than some truth behind that old chestnut when they take the stage on Sunday, April 13, alongside students from across the nation at one of the most famous concert halls in the world.

The Eastchester students will perform with youngsters from South Carolina, Indiana, New Jersey, Kentucky and Florida as part of the Distinguished Concert Singers International program, working with famed composer Greg Gilpin to tackle a slew of difficult numbers that includes two world premiere pieces. 

 

EMS Choral Director Erin Bonner said she heard about the opportunity and immediately reached out to Gilpin to see if Eastchester students could be included. After submitting concert videos that wowed the event’s organizers, Bonner held auditions for those who were interested in taking on this significant challenge. 

“We have 10 students performing out of 40 who auditioned,” said Bonner. “We’ve been rehearsing for two hours on Fridays after school, and even though the music is challenging—more challenging than the pieces they sing in the school chorus—I’ve never seen a group of kids work harder than this, taking the initiative to learn these eight songs in addition to everything else we are working on.”

Bonner noted that while not every student was familiar with the history of Carnegie Hall from the outset, they quickly began to understand the significance of the venue that was constructed in 1891 and has featured performances from some of the most notable musicians of the last century, including Frank Sinatra, Maria Callas, George Gershwin, Billie Holiday and many others. 

“Some of the students really didn’t know Carnegie Hall at first; I think that between Covid and the fact that they are so young, they might not be used to going into the city to see performances,” said Bonner. “But once I showed them photos and told them who has performed there they began to think about the size of the venue, how many seats there were compared to our own auditorium, and they began to understand it a little bit better.”

Noting that it is exceedingly rare for middle school students to have the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall, Bonner said that the 10-student cohort is taking their preparation for the Sunday show quite seriously. 

“This is a true honor, and the kids understand that,” said Bonner. “They completely understand the opportunity that they have been given and how special this is.” 

 

The 10 EMS Students who will be performing at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, April 13 are as follows:

Gabriela Alioti Passi (7th grade)

Milly Convery (7th grade)

Fumi Fujinuma (7th grade)

Meghan Messar (8th grade)

Daniel Miranda (7th grade)

Alessia Ravalico (7th grade)

Collette Schwer (7th grade)

Soleil Shteyn (8th grade)

Sofia Vakhraneva (6th grade)

Ella Watanabe (7th grade)

 

To purchase tickets for Sunday’s event, click the link HERE

 

Promo Code: FND49401